THE THIRD PIECE OF THE TRIPTYCH “OF DAY AND NIGHT”

COMMISSIONED BY: a consortium of wind ensembles led by Josh Trentadue as part of the ​2019 M.O.T.I.F. Triptych Consortium,
featuring new music by composers Josh Trentadue, Kevin Day, and Quinn Mason
WORLD PREMIERE: November 17, 2021 | California State University San Bernardino Symphonic Band (Nicholas Bratcher, conductor) | CSUSB Music Recital Hall, San Bernardino, California

CONSORTIUM MEMBERS

University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point | Michael S. Butler
Celia Cruz Bronx High School of Music | Penelope Smetters-Jacono
Hollidaysburg Area Senior High School | Scott Sheehan
Boswell High School, Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD | Kevin Fallon
Seattle Pacific University Wind Ensemble | Danny Helseth
St. Olaf College - St. Olaf Band & Norseman Band | Timothy Mahr
Minnesota Junior Winds | Charles Weise
North Cobb High School Wind Symphony | Sheldon Frazier
San Jose State University School of Music and Dance | David Vickerman
Grand Ledge High School Bands | John Szczerowski
Texas Woman's University Bands | Carter Biggers
Texas Christian University Wind Symphony | Bobby R. Francis, Director of Bands
​The Hartt School of Music, University of Hartford | Glen Adsit
​Armand Hall

The moment I first met composers Kevin Day and Quinn Mason, and the moment I listened to their music, I knew that I wanted to collaborate with both of them on a new project. These two are such extraordinary artists, and human beings, with an incredibly high level of passion and dedication to their craft. I feel incredibly fortunate to have had this opportunity to be able to work with them on forming Of Day and Night, the triptych this piece is a part of.

When I approached Kevin and Quinn about this collaboration, I knew that the project needed to have a thematic and overarching idea present throughout all three intended works - something that would contain some sense of continuity expressed through three very different, and unique, compositional voices. What better form could this triptych take on than the progression of time? The idea of nature always evolving, and change over time, is something that I had begun exploring very recently in my own music. Thus, all three works in Of Day and Night explore this concept over the progression of a single day, each of them depicting a specific moment in that length of time. While Kevin's piece Shimmering Sunshine explores the exuberant joyfulness of daylight, and Quinn's work Across a Golden Sky depicts the magical wonders of the "golden hour" during sunset, Midnight Skyline thus takes on the thrilling, chaotic experiences one could endure throughout the nighttime.

I tend to think of Midnight Skyline as a pure road-trip piece - one that never stays on the same route for too long, with plenty of adventures to experience (whether alone or with friends) and a ridiculous amount of shenanigans in between. Sometimes, they're more chaotic than necessary, and sometimes, they have just the right amount of thrills. The piece immediately takes off and shouts with all of this in mind, and while it experiences a number of different events throughout its journey, it never intends to stray from this path altogether. Midnight Skyline is for those thrill-seekers, a celebration of life and love along with the youthfulness and joy of human nature.

My sincerest thanks and appreciation goes to Kevin and Quinn for their wonderful friendship and brilliant creativity; to all of the consortium members who made this piece, and the triptych, possible; and finally, to Salvador Alan Jacobo for a brilliant and lovely title for this piece.